VS Code Alternatives

Visual Studio Code is a cross-platform, extension-driven code editor with IntelliSense-style completion plus integrated Git and debugging workflows. Users praise its versatility and ease of use for many programming workflows, though some complain it can feel resource-intensive and may get slower over time, especially after updates.

VSCodium tops the rankings as a fully open-source build of Code - OSS that removes telemetry while keeping most VS Code functionality and extensibility. Privacy-focused developers who want a VS Code-like experience often choose VSCodium specifically to avoid telemetry, though some Microsoft extensions may be unavailable. Sublime Text ranks second and is repeatedly praised for outstanding speed and being less resource-intensive than VS Code, making it popular with developers on slower machines or large projects.

The alternatives landscape spans lightweight text editors like Vim and Notepad++ to newer AI-first editors like Zed Editor, with over 100 alternatives covering code editors, full IDEs, and terminal-based editors.

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Visual Studio Code is a code editor, but the alternatives span different approaches to development workflows. Open source options like VSCodium, Vim, and GNU Emacs appeal to users who want transparent licensing and community-driven tooling. For privacy-focused development, VSCodium and Helix emphasize no-tracking and telemetry prevention features.

Linux users have native options in VSCodium, Kate, and Lapce. Web-based development suits users who want browser-based environments - Replit and Firebase Studio run online for coding without local setup. For developers who live in the terminal, Micro, Neovim, and Helix target command-line workflows useful for SSH-heavy or low-overhead environments.

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Alternatives list

  1. DevPod icon
     6 likes

    DevPod is infrastructure-independent and client-only, which makes it incredibly easy to get started with. Codespaces but open-source, client-only and unopinionated. Works with any infra, any programming language, any IDE, etc.

    24 DevPod alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
     
  2. Textadept icon
     39 likes

    Textadept is a fast, minimalist, and ridiculously extensible cross-platform text editor for programmers. Written in a combination of C and Lua and relentlessly optimized for speed and minimalism over the years, Textadept is an ideal editor for programmers who want endless...

    93 Textadept alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  3. Xed icon
     23 likes

    A text editor forked from Pluma and Gedit. Xed is the default text editor of Linux Mint. It can be customized and is available in multiple languages.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  4. Spacemacs icon
     27 likes

    Spacemacs is an beautiful Emacs distribution designed for both GNU Emacs and Vim users.

    41 Spacemacs alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
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    1
    Comments about Spacemacs as an Alternative to Visual Studio Code
    inventor500
    Positive
    0

    It is by far more extendable than Visual Studio Code, and combines the best of EMACS and VIM. The only downside is that it loads only a little faster than VS Code, instead of much faster like EMACS.

    Visual Studio Code Icon
    Spacemacs icon
    • Spacemacs is Free and Open SourceVisual Studio Code is Free and Proprietary
  5. BBEdit icon
     48 likes

    BBEdit is a professional HTML and text editor for the Macintosh. Specifically crafted in response to the needs of Web authors and software developers, this award-winning product provides an abundance of high-performance features for editing, searching, and manipulation of text.

    119 BBEdit alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Pay once)
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  6. Nova icon
     7 likes

    The beautiful, fast, flexible, native Mac code editor from Panic.

    Cost / License

    • Pay once
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  7. Light Table icon
     61 likes

    Light Table is a new interactive IDE that lets you modify running programs and embed anything from websites to games. It provides the real time feedback we need to not only answer questions about our code, but to understand how our programs really work.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Electron / Atom Shell
     
  8. ReText icon
     49 likes

    ReText is a simple text editor for Markdown and reStructuredText documents with syntax highlighting and optional live preview.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  9. Mousepad icon
     35 likes

    A simple text editor for the Xfce desktop environment. Mousepad aims to be an easy-to-use and fast editor for quickly editing text files, not a development environment or an editor with a huge bunch of plugins.

    78 Mousepad alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • Xfce
     
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